Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
BAB'YLON, in Rev 14:8;Rev 16:19;Rev 17:5; Ps 18:2, 2 Chr 11:21, is a symbolical name for heathen Rome, which took the place of ancient Babylon as a persecuting power. This is also the sense given to Babylon in 1 Pet 5:13 by the fathers and many commentators; but others refer it to Babylon in Asia, since it is quite possible that Peter labored for a while in that city, where there was at that time a large Jewish colony; still others maintain that Babylon in Egypt, now called Old Cairo is meant.